Didn't care until I saw it was a German Shepherd. Cops are stupid. I'm from the town where the cops shot the caged dogs when they entered a guy's house to raid for non-existent drugs. So *extremely* paranoid about the police shooting my scary-looking dog. Luckily, the only time my dog has met the police it was the canine officer and he was positively *in love* with my dog (who was restrained in the back seat of my car).

That said- dear everyone: I love my dog, I really do, and having your dog shot would be horrible and this was totally senseless and unnecessary and is EXTREMELY upsetting. That said, having your dog shot isn't the same as losing a kid. I don't even have kids, but COME ON losing a child would be infinitely worse than losing your dog. Do you know people who have had a child die? For farks sake.

Every one of these stories just turns people against the police more and more, which just makes their jobs harder and more dangerous. If there was any brains in their leadership they would be reviewing this shoot dogs on sight policy.

Tryfan:Every one of these stories just turns people against the police more and more, which just makes their jobs harder and more dangerous. If there was any brains in their leadership they would be reviewing this shoot dogs on sight policy.

The thing is, the more they turn people against them, the harder (and more dangerous) their job is, so they get more aggressive and violent, then they turn even more people against them. Frankly, in the US, escalating violence is pretty much the only thing police do other than generating revenue. There are good cops out there, but they're becoming fewer and farther between as departments tolerate this kind of behavior.

The dogs ears are down, running around tail wagging does not look like "ATTACK" and unless it can lunge through the fence at him I fail to see why shooting it helped anything. Beyond his need to kill something that day.

spidermilk:Didn't care until I saw it was a German Shepherd. Cops are stupid. I'm from the town where the cops shot the caged dogs when they entered a guy's house to raid for non-existent drugs. So *extremely* paranoid about the police shooting my scary-looking dog. Luckily, the only time my dog has met the police it was the canine officer and he was positively *in love* with my dog (who was restrained in the back seat of my car).

That said- dear everyone: I love my dog, I really do, and having your dog shot would be horrible and this was totally senseless and unnecessary and is EXTREMELY upsetting. That said, having your dog shot isn't the same as losing a kid. I don't even have kids, but COME ON losing a child would be infinitely worse than losing your dog. Do you know people who have had a child die? For farks sake.

For some of us, our four-footed pack members ARE our children, particularly for those of us who can't/shouldn't have human kids. Just because you don't love your critters as much doesn't mean other people don't include them as family members, as was clearly shown in TFA.

Personally, I'd shoot the officer. He was comin' right at me, and I was in fear for my life. It's incredibly sad that the department at first offered to pay for the vet bills, then rescinded the offer when they found out monetarily just how hard they farked up - leading to the dog being put to sleep due only to prohibitive cost. I hope they sue and win infinity money, paid for by loser cop for the rest of his miserable life.

I know my GED in law is showing, but wasn't there a major court case sometime in the last year or so where the judge determined that it was legal to sue for the emotional value of a killed family pet instead of the replacement cost?

We got more cops and police academies are only like 6-700 hours total course time. We can mint cops faster than just about any other profession.

Kick these guys to the curb and forever blacklist them from law enforcement. Hanging them and/or tying them to a pillory and scourging them unconscious, while totally deserved, falls outside of the constitution rights of everyone in the country. (but if this was Rome...)

Tryfan:Every one of these stories just turns people against the police more and more, which just makes their jobs harder and more dangerous. If there was any brains in their leadership they would be reviewing this shoot dogs on sight policy.

Vector R:spidermilk: Didn't care until I saw it was a German Shepherd. Cops are stupid. I'm from the town where the cops shot the caged dogs when they entered a guy's house to raid for non-existent drugs. So *extremely* paranoid about the police shooting my scary-looking dog. Luckily, the only time my dog has met the police it was the canine officer and he was positively *in love* with my dog (who was restrained in the back seat of my car).

That said- dear everyone: I love my dog, I really do, and having your dog shot would be horrible and this was totally senseless and unnecessary and is EXTREMELY upsetting. That said, having your dog shot isn't the same as losing a kid. I don't even have kids, but COME ON losing a child would be infinitely worse than losing your dog. Do you know people who have had a child die? For farks sake.

For some of us, our four-footed pack members ARE our children, particularly for those of us who can't/shouldn't have human kids. Just because you don't love your critters as much doesn't mean other people don't include them as family members, as was clearly shown in TFA.

Personally, I'd shoot the officer. He was comin' right at me, and I was in fear for my life. It's incredibly sad that the department at first offered to pay for the vet bills, then rescinded the offer when they found out monetarily just how hard they farked up - leading to the dog being put to sleep due only to prohibitive cost. I hope they sue and win infinity money, paid for by loser cop for the rest of his miserable life.

I guess I will never know unless I have a kid and they die. I agree with you that different people can experience completely different emotions, so I believe you that to some people losing a pet would be the same as losing a child. What I should have said is that I don't feel that way. I love my dog and I have loved my pets that have died in the past, but I have lost a very close friend when we were both 20 and it was absolutely nothing like losing a pet. I cannot imagine losing a child.

It doesn't make the cops shooting the dog any less bad, there should be some kind of punishment- it is scary to think that people who have weapons and are authorized to use them would have such terrible judgement.

I can't believe the department wouldn't pay $7000 in vet bills, that is just more shiat icing on the shiat cake. How much did they think it would be for something so serious?

Tryfan:Every one of these stories just turns people against the police more and more, which just makes their jobs harder and more dangerous. If there was any brains in their leadership they would be reviewing this shoot dogs on sight policy.

Police with properly functioning brains don't exist so there's no chance of that happening.

spidermilk:Vector R: spidermilk: Didn't care until I saw it was a German Shepherd. Cops are stupid. I'm from the town where the cops shot the caged dogs when they entered a guy's house to raid for non-existent drugs. So *extremely* paranoid about the police shooting my scary-looking dog. Luckily, the only time my dog has met the police it was the canine officer and he was positively *in love* with my dog (who was restrained in the back seat of my car).

That said- dear everyone: I love my dog, I really do, and having your dog shot would be horrible and this was totally senseless and unnecessary and is EXTREMELY upsetting. That said, having your dog shot isn't the same as losing a kid. I don't even have kids, but COME ON losing a child would be infinitely worse than losing your dog. Do you know people who have had a child die? For farks sake.

For some of us, our four-footed pack members ARE our children, particularly for those of us who can't/shouldn't have human kids. Just because you don't love your critters as much doesn't mean other people don't include them as family members, as was clearly shown in TFA.

Personally, I'd shoot the officer. He was comin' right at me, and I was in fear for my life. It's incredibly sad that the department at first offered to pay for the vet bills, then rescinded the offer when they found out monetarily just how hard they farked up - leading to the dog being put to sleep due only to prohibitive cost. I hope they sue and win infinity money, paid for by loser cop for the rest of his miserable life.

I guess I will never know unless I have a kid and they die. I agree with you that different people can experience completely different emotions, so I believe you that to some people losing a pet would be the same as losing a child. What I should have said is that I don't feel that way. I love my dog and I have loved my pets that have died in the past, but I have lost a very close friend when we were both 20 and it was absolutely nothing like losing ...

Fair enough. Admittedly, it is a different kind of loss between losing a human friend vs. an animal one. I find I forget people are gone sometimes for a few seconds until it comes back (like going to share something interesting and realizing you kinda can't), but I never forget that a critter has passed. On a brighter note:

whooter:Thingster: fusillade762: Is it just me or do cops seem to actively look for opportunities to shoot family pets?

Yes.

Yes they do, or yes it's just him?

Cops love shooting dogs. And then busting a gut when someone gets charged with killing an officer after they have shot a police dog. It is the ultimate irony enjoyment time to them. They sit around soaking up the schadenfreude like the sophisticates they are ala 'dinner for schmucks' and then strap body armor on their k-9 unit to fulfill the ultimate snake eats own tail prophesy. Or...other things happen

spidermilk:I love my dog and I have loved my pets that have died in the past, but I have lost a very close friend when we were both 20 and it was absolutely nothing like losing a pet. I cannot imagine losing a child.

Ever been attacked by a dog?

Just sayin'. Since you grasp the concept that others may not have the same experiences as you, and that maybe they'll listen when you present an example.

Maybe it was as so many people here are pretending and the officer practically shot the dog in cold blood because he hates dogs.

Not rationalizing what the cop did, but who are we to judge? The article wasn't all that great, and the people knew that their dogs could potentially be a problem. The officers may not have been warned at all, probably the desk jockey didn't think to mention it.

I've been attacked by some pretty damn big dogs. Can scare the shiat right out of you, not to mention make you twitchy whenever you come into a similar circumstance with a barking dog charging you, it's kind of hard-wired into us, fight or flight.

Not saying either way what went down, or that even if the dog was attacking he should have shot then. Of course the ideal scenario is to at least attempt to protect yourself with your hands or a nightstick or mace. But it's entirely possible the officer lost his shiat and panicked and did what he was trained to.

Even being callous afterwards isn't necessarily a sign of intent or ill will either. Any type of instant shooting like that can inspire shock and retreat.

Cops are human too, and they're bound to fark up sooner or later. They deal with a lot of shiat. They can also be power tripping assholes.

Either way, there's not enough details here, but so many are going to make another black mark on the list of reasons they hate cops....

I know, I know. I'm asking a lot to have people at least try to see it from another perspective and not be quite so prejudice, and on the internet at that.I understand the futility of it./gotta at least try

Arumat:I know my GED in law is showing, but wasn't there a major court case sometime in the last year or so where the judge determined that it was legal to sue for the emotional value of a killed family pet instead of the replacement cost?

I've got 5 exorbitantly expensive dogs. Three of them are on the couch with me; the other two are on the floor enjoying the fan's breeze.

It's getting to the point now where we'd all be so much safer without any cops, with everyone just handling their affairs themselves.

And that's BAD! That would be a terrible, awful, ridiculously bad idea on a massive scale. And yet, it may still be superior to dealing with the police forces running rampant and above the law in this country.

Had this been my dog, this might've made bigger news. Would've walked into the bedroom, loaded the 12ga with slugs and walked back out to deal with the officer. Sure, that vest might stop the slugs, but it's not like a sledgehammer kills you because of penetration.

People, the powers that be need it to be like this. They need the police to be militarized. They need the police and us to dispise and mistrust each other. It's all in their training doctrine and culture.

Officer can stand on feeling threatened by a charging, unattended dog (which appears to be the case on their own surveillance footage) and when he's threatened he felt compelled to take action. Crappy thing to go down but if you have the police in your home keep your dogs tight on a lead or put them in another room.

/And the 'Beware of Dog' sign means squat as they seem to bring it up ad nausem in TFA.